Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has praised Aleix Garcia and Pablo Maffeo’s performance following his side’s 1-0 defeat against Manchester United in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.

Garcia was superb in his deep-lying midfield role, using his exceptional range of passing to keep City’s play in the midfield fluid, while Maffeo gave an impressive display in certain difficult circumstances.

‘Aleix was outstanding – Pablo Maffeo as well, fighting with [Marcus] Rashford and [Paul] Pogba,’ Guardiola told the Manchester City website.

‘We made a good performance, so there’s no regrets. We were still fighting until the last minute.

‘We are a young team. Kelechi is 20, Leroy 20, Pablo 19 – it is a good experience for them. Fernando played amazing and helped the other ones.’

The result saw City’s losing streak stretch to six matches and for the first time in Guardiola’s career he’s been winless for so long, but insists he is pleased with his side’s performance despite the defeat.

‘Yeah, it’s six games – not a good situation – but we are out of one competition, we have three still,’ he added.

‘We are going to see. I happy with the players and we are going to try in the future.’

Manchester City will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they take on West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League on Saturday.

The match at The Hawthorns kicks off at 16:00.

Image: Manchester City website